Akers
Akers is the primary land power of Cairi, referred to as the "heavy lifter" of the Alliance, as well as its de jure leader. Their patron god is Dikaio, the Serpent of Law and Duty. The city-state of Akers is located on the island of Exousia, and shares that island with the city-states of Fositi and Kiyos. The city of Akers is more inland from the coasts of Exousia, protected from coastal raids and the wrath of the Palatine navy as outward water seeps in through a central river delta into several rivers. Akers is a temperate yet warm place where green trees bearing sweet cherries blossom. The winters of Akers are fairly light due to the dense amount of hills and river valleys that surround it. The people of Akers are typically humans and elves. Elves were originally the dominant force on the island of Exousia with their own elven kingdom, but the rise of human city-states began their demise. Akers and surrounding city-states conquered elf land, and elfs that did not resort to hiding out in isolated elven-run towns outside of city-state territory integrated with human society. The government of Akers has always been a republican one, with representatives elected directly from the forums of their respective districts. Every three years, the people of one district in Akers gather in their district forum and cast votes on who should represent their part of the city. These officials make up the Ekato, a council of 100 men who have campaigned to represent their district. Whether through honestly swaying the people or through cutthroat monetary affairs, the men of the Ekato are elected democratically, and are almost always made up of the richest men of Akers. The Ekato then vote on their city's leader, the Vasanthros, meaning "people's king" in Kairian. The leader and his Ekato make all decisions for the city, in conjunction with the respective leaders of the Akeron Navy and the land Akeron Legion. During The Vaslassa Expedition, the current Vasanthros is Archontas Rexes, a noble half-elf who rose to power through success in his land battle campaigns against the Palatine League that led to him to becoming the youngest Vasanthros, backed by his populism and unwavering public support. The Ekato and the Vasanthros are notable for their iron fist laws. It is easily described as "an eye for an eye", where crippling someone results in you getting the exact same if it was not warranted in self-defense. Murder is always punished by death, and murder of nobles or murders committed by foreigners are barely investigated. They are often believed to have an underlying conspiracy, with the most popular of these conspiracies is about their involvement in the dragonborn slave trade, and by sparking more hatred against the race by setting up false flag attacks against cultural sites in Akers. Akers is home to several monasteries of paladins, most of which get their paladins from training orphaned children into paladin of a diety. These paladins also act as mounted cavalrymen that act a policing force for the city.